A Sad Day for Our Nation~GLBT “Marriage” in California

A Sad Day for Our Nation~GLBT “Marriage” in California
Mon, 16 Jun 2008 5:46 pm

From:  James C. Stephens

               ”Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O Peoples!
          Let the earth and all it contains hear,and the world and all that springs from it.  For the LORD’s indignation is against all the nations, and His wrath against all their armies…” (Isaiah 34:1-2)

                           “In any deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decision on the next seven generations.”

                           ~Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy

                   ”Cry loudly, do not hold back; 
                Raise your voice like a trumpet,
      And declare to My people their transgression,
          And to the house of Jacob their sins” (Isaiah 58:1)

 

 

Dear Sara,

Before I received your email regarding the division of the task, I had already divided the task in California tragically revealing that almost thirty per cent of the GLBT Caucus are from the State of California. I have been prayerfully attempting to connect the dots, from my humble perspective looking at the situation from a gatekeeper’s point of view in California. I  am certainly concerned on a number of levels as the Renegade State of California State Supreme Court’s ruling has opened the State to Judgment from the JUDGE and CREATOR of the UNIVERSE. “He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless” (Isaiah 40:22).

The airwaves are sickenly full of this gross perversion called homosexuality, while California’s struggling economy is poised for a $700million wicked windfall as GLBT flock to California starting Tuesday to get “married.”  Unlike Massachusetts they are allowed by law to get “married” in California, the new GLBT Las Vegas. And at what price? A great price to every devout follower of Jesus Christ whose tax dollars will go to fund this gross perversion. A great price for the entire society. “Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the LORD, and whose deeds are done in a dark place, and they say, “Who sees us? or “Who knows us? You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, that what is made should say to its maker, “He did not make me?; or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding?” (Isaiah 29:15-16). “Woe to those who enact evil statutes, and to those who constantly record unjust decisions” (Is. 10:1).

Those “who sow iniquity will reap vanity” ~Prov. 22 verse 8 which is so graphically true of same sex marriage.

I can well identify with the prophet Isaiah’s lamentation,

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah)

“Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble, and dry grass collapses into the flame, so their root will become like rot and their blosssom blow away as dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. On this account the anger of the LORD has burned against His people, and He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down, and the mountains quaked; and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets. For all His anger is not spent, but His hand is still stretched out.” 

I can personally identify with the prophet Isaiah’s trembling, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the KIng, the LORD of hosts” (Is. 6:5). 

 What have we done LORD? ”New gods were chosen, and then the enemy was in the gates.”  Where are the men of God, no offense to my sisters who have been shouldering far too much of the burden, but where are the men of God who should be standing in the gap? In political circles? In economic circles? In the Church? In the mission. We are undone. 

I just watched the ABC Evening News and Barack Obama was asked the question about same sex marriage, “Does it bother you what is happening in California?” His one word answer was, “No.”  He is a strong supporter of civil unions. So much for his brand of Christianity. At least when McCain was on on the Ellen Degeneres show his response to her question about same sex marriage was straightforward, “Ellen, I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman.”

JUDICIAL JUDGMENT has been signed already by our US Congress (except for a small remnant) and President Bush who have already betrayed this nation into the hands of the enemy by awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to a foreign god-king, the exiled XIV Dalai Lama of Tibet.

These judgments are DESERVED.  There is a terrifying silence before judgment. Where is the voice crying out in the wilderness?  Where are our leaders? We must listen to the warnings of the prophets and pastor teachers exhorting us to follow the Word of God.

Watch the West. Fires are roaring across California. 200 year floods in the midwest. Tornados. Just the beginning. A Kalachakra Mandala was built at San Jose State University, just like in Tower One of the World Trade Center in New York. Another mandala was built in Sacramento a month before the change of the law by one judge. The US Olympic Team will be gathering for departure from the same University where the Kalachakra Sand Mandala was built. Pray that nothing hits our nation’s finest athletes who will be leaving from that campus for Beijing. Could it be another Munich? We can only pray for the protection of our fine athletes and repent for our blindness.

“His judgments are righteous altogether.”

 ”It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
 
“As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?” 

We hear about the death of hundreds of thousands that have resulted in Myanmar from the typhoon and the earthquake in China~do we not fear God’s Hand again coming against us as a disobedient people who have embraced the idols of the east and the idols of the stock market?

Look at the mandala map of America. While it only represents the Buddhist incursion into America, it presents a graphic slice of  the true weakened state of American Christianity. Each of the fifty States must openly repent for the sin of allowing these idols into their midst. Yes, we’ve made many strides since 9-11 to establish gatekeepers and prayer shields, but it’s not enough. We keep looking at Islam as the major enemy and that’s just simply too obvious. We’ve got to look deeper. Look to the LORD for His wisdom. Soar like the eagles above the nation with the LORD and observe what He’s doing, what He shows us.

We’ve embraced pluralism at all levels. From allowing the Dalai Lama to commemorate the second anniversary of 9-11 in the National Cathedral, to embracing the Buddhist blood relic tours in our churches to welcoming homosexual union in our sanctuaries. As a former Buddhist and now as a follower of Jesus Christ, I am ashamed of the willful blindness and the lukewarm nature of the Church and its institutions.  Grateful for the fighting remnant.

When I grew up in Montana I remember the way that sheepherders use to kill wolves. They would take a razor blade, freeze it so that it was encased in an ice cube, put some blood on it and await the wolves who came into the flock. The wolves would lick the blood off the ice cube, not realizing that they were numbing their tongue and then cutting their own tongues, which bled profusely. The wolves would end up drinking their own blood and bleeding to death.

In America, we likewise are being subjected to self judgment.
 
1) While we judge nations like China for their toxic products, all the while consuming their products and allowing Chinese investors to buy our debt. We are being sold and selling ourselves into bondage. 

2) We support & exalt the Dalai Lama who desires to establish a Buddhist empire, while supporting him as an agent of the CIA for years. We have allowed their Nechung Oracle, a demon possessed Tibetan who the Dalai Lama consults into our halls of Congress. We are messing with demonic powers just like Nazi Germany did before World War II. 
 
3) Our governmental leaders are members of powerful secret societies like the Freemasons and Skull and Bones across party lines, and deny the very LORD Jesus Christ and support generational transfer of power. And its’ not just Caucasian groups~ every ethnic group has some skeleton in their closet. We must ALL examine ourselves. 

4) As a nation, we have abused our Native American hosts by breaking treaties and while voicing some remorse, have not submitted to a course of true repentance accompanied by restitution. While Christian Native American leaders were awaiting to meet with President Bush in the White House to ask forgiveness themselves, our President sidestepped the meeting insulting National Native American leaders who desired to take the necessary Biblical steps towards reconciliation and restitution. We have left most Native American Tribes little recourse, but to generally make gambling casinos the number one industry on their reservation. Casinos which most often are simply lucrative breeding grounds for addictive gambling, governmental and moral corruption, further breakdown of the family, prostitution, drugs, and more alcoholism.
 
5) Our secret sins. While we condemn others, we nurture our own pet sins ranging from the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Forgive us LORD, for “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one” (Romans 3:10-12). Purify our hearts, pour out your grace on us all. Look at our spiritual leaders~like shepard like sheep. You have begun judgment on the house of God in Colorado Springs with Ted Haggard, the President of the National Evangelical Association. Please cleanse Christian organizations of Freemasonry, ambition, and other secret sins. Your judgment is necessary and righteous altogether.  Please Lord raise up a new generation of leaders with moral and biblical courage for the sake of future generations. Be merciful in our deserved chastening as Your people. 

There is hope.
 
          “Seek the LORD while He may be found;
                 Calll upon Him while He is near.
              Let the wicked forsake his way,
           And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
                 And let him return to the LORD,
      And He will have compassion on him; and to our God,
                       For He will abundantly pardon.
                 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways, ” declares the LORD” (Is. 55:6-

For there will be a day when men will ask, 

        “Who among us can live with the consuming fire?


Sad to see this day in our nation.

In Christ’s refuge and strength,

James C. Stephens
jsnarnia@aol.com

“The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in Thee.Trust in the LORD forever, for in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock” (Isaiah 26:3-4).

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Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:19 pm
Subject: Nearly One Third of the Congressional LGBT Caucus are from California~God forgive us.

The following excerpt was taken from an email sent out by CHPP. The red highlights are my notations.

“The 52 members of the LGBT Caucus are: Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Barney Frank (D-MA), Rob Andrews (D-NJ), Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Lois Capps (D-CA), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Joseph Crowley (D-NY), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Mike Honda (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), James McGovern (D-MA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Linda Sánchez (D-CA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Hilda Solis (D-CA), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Henry Waxman (D-CA), Anthony Weiner (D-NY), Peter Welch (D-VT), Howard Berman (D-CA), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Robert Brady (D-PA), Michael Capuano (D-MA), Susan Davis (D-CA), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Phil Hare (D-IL), Rush Holt (D-NJ), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Doris Matsui (D-CA), James Moran (D-VA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-Washington, D.C.), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Steven Rothman (D-NJ), José Serrano (D-NY), Chris Shays (R-CT), Pete Stark (D-CA), Betty Sutton (D-OH), Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), Niki Tsongas (D-MA), Robert Wexler (D-FL), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).”

29 per cent of the LGBT Caucus in Congress are from California~all Democrats.

Xavier Becerra (D-CA)
Lois Capps (D-CA)
Mike Honda (D-CA)
Barbara Lee (D-CA)
Linda Sánchez (D-CA)
Hilda Solis (D-CA)
Henry Waxman (D-CA)
Howard Berman (D-CA)
Susan Davis (D-CA)
Anna Eshoo (D-CA)
Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)
Doris Matsui (D-CA)
Pete Stark (D-CA)
Ellen Tauscher (D-CA)
Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 

 

http://www.sanjoseca.gov/cityManager/pdf/ISJ_JUL_07.pdf

US Olympic Team leaving from San Jose State University

 

 

More than 600 U.S. Olympic Team members, coaches and officials will gather by teams at the university during late July and early August 2008 for two-day stays. Athletes will participate in team briefings, apparel distribution, medical screenings and training before departing for Beijing, where one of the most important Olympic Games in recent history will be held Aug. 8-24, 2008

.

…………………………………….
Kalachakra Sand Mandala was constructed at San Jose State University June 2008. Very, very little was broadcast about it. Just like the one built in the World Trade Center towers.

…………………………………….

Background from 2002

 

 

Art history students show talent at Symposium

Melinda Latham, Daily Staff Writer

Issue date: 11/4/02 Section: Campus News

 

Brid Arthur, a UC Davis graduate student, presented a slide show about Tibetan sand mandalas at Saturday’s Art History Symposium. Arthur showed a slide of a Kalachakra mandala, which was made with colred sand. Like all mandalas, it is not complete until t [Click to enlarge]

Art historians got the chance to display their talents Saturday at the Ninth Annual Art History Symposium on Saturday in the Engineering building.

The event, coordinated by the Art History Association, was designed to allow art history students to share their research with others in their discipline, as well as any others interested in the history of art, said Peter Wilson, a multimedia graduate student and president of the association.

“We’re trying to reach out to other students and educate them about culture, and the way [artists] have influence over the culture,” Wilson said.

The Art History Association began recruiting talent for the symposium in the fall from all public universities in California, said Anne Simonson, associate director of the School of Art and Design at San Jose State University. Simonson was responsible for the first symposium the department held, and she said that students from California State University and University of California systems, as well as Santa Clara University and local community colleges, have benefited from the event.

“It’s just been a success since then,” she said. “They can see there’s a future in art history.”

Seven undergraduate and graduate students came from SJSU, Sonoma State University, UC Davis and Cal State Los Angeles. Each presented a topic based on a paper they had submitted to the association. Topics covered included “The Universe in a Grain of Sand: Tibetan Sand Mandalas,” presented in a lecture by Brid Arthur, a UC Davis graduate student.

“I thought of art as a very specific thing, but mandalas changed my mind,” she said.

Arthur showed slides of Buddhist monks creating an Akshobya mandala, an art piece created with colored sand in intricate designs according to a specific pattern. The head monk draws “energy axes” to create the geometric framework for the mandala, and monks work for several days to design it. The monks are then to meditate on the design of the mandala. Once a few days have passed, the head monk breaks the energy axes and some of the sand is poured into vials, but the majority is dumped into running water. The mandala is considered finished only after it has been destroyed.

The lack of innovation and temporary nature of the mandala challenged Arthur’s perception of art.

“It’s contrary to the word art in every way that we mean it,” Arthur said.

Not only did the lectures discuss art pieces, but also perceptions of artistry. In “The Myth of Ancient Egyptian Beauty,” Angelica Muro discussed her research of the prevalence of cosmetics and beautifying rituals in ancient Egyptian society.

“I found myself immersed in a society of grace, elegance, beauty and sophistication,” Muro said.

Egyptian men and women, in the time of the Pharaohs, would use cosmetics, wigs, and fragrances to beautify themselves, she said. Figurines of women also showed the ideal female body type, usually slender and narrow-hipped.

“The ideal is perhaps as unattainable as current feminine fashion,” Muro said.

Other lectures included SJSU student Kathleen Follis’s “Evolution of the Griffin Motif from Scythian Art,” which explored how the griffin - a lion with a bird’s head - came from the ancient central Asian Scythian culture and moved to the Celtic cultures and eventually modern culture.

“Van Gogh and the Influence of Japanese Prints,” presented by Sonoma State senior Brooke Krystosek, explored how the post-impressionist artist Vincent Van Gogh was heavily influenced by ancient Japanese prints, of which he owned several hundred.

Some students said the lectures piqued their curiosity.

Jeff Ho, a senior marketing major, said he was particularly interested in the mandalas.

“I learned a lot of stuff,” he said. “I wanted to know - how did they color the sand? How did they correct mistakes?”

Simonson said she enjoyed the diversity of subjects.

“There’s a combination of Western art and world art,” she said, adding that, as a discipline, “Art history was created by a bunch of 19th century German men going to Italy to study renaissance art. That really established how the field developed. (But) everything is important-multiple perspectives, multiple cultures. Some things connect humans in all cultures.”

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Seeds of Compassion or Seeds of Destruction? Dalai Lama in Seattle

The Shadow of the Dalai Lama: Sexuality, Magic, and Politics
an online English version************************************************************
CAUTION: THIS MATERIAL REQUIRES MATURE DISCRETION.
*******************************************************************************************
The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him.
   —Proverbs 18:17 (NIV)

Victor and Victoria Trimondi, co-authors of the recent German bestseller, The Shadow of the Dalai Lama first met the XIV Dalai Lama in the eighties and came to know him very well. Subsequently, they published his writings, organized critical conferences and were instrumental in securing his invitation to Germany and Austria.  At the time they thought, “Only the worst villain could disagree with what he has said and written.”    However, after responding to his encouragement to convert to Tibetan Buddhism, and after much serious study, they uncovered  a vile connection between magic and politics, “the foundation for an absolutistic system in which spiritual and worldly power are united in one person, the Dalai Lama, and an extreme ‘metaphysical exploitation of women.”

 Link 1: Table of Contents.    

 

 The Shadow of the Dalai Lama: Sexuality, Magic and Politics, released in 1999 is a best selling expose in Europe numbering  800 pages of carefully researched and reasoned arguments. The Trimondi’s take you on a painful journey that dismantles the West’s idealized image of Tibet and takes off the pacifist mask of the Dalai Lama, revealing a pantheon of warring deities and a skillful God-King who still acknowledges the guidance of a demon-possessed man, the Nechung Oracle in all his important State decisions.    

 They warn that the ‘Kalachakra Initiation is consciously devoted to the manipulation of believers and introduces “an aggressive military ethos” aiming at “the establishment of a global Buddhocracy” following a Buddhist war in 2327 waged against the followers of Mohammed, Abraham, and Jesus.”

http://www.trimondi.de/SDLE/Contents.htm
 
Link 2: Eight Serious Questions from the Trimondis for the XIV Dalai Lama on the Kalachakra Tantra Ideology.

Question 1. Why does the Kalachakra-Tantra which is supposedly a “ritual for world peace” prophesy and glorify a holy war by Buddhists against non-Buddhists?Question 2. Why does the Kalachakra-Tantra ( taught throughout the USA), which is supposedly a contributor to a world ecumenical movement and a world ethos, attack the 3 monotheistic-semitic religions, especially Islam, named as “enemy of the Dharma”, and swear a religious war against Islam?    

Where in your texts you proclaim “Adam, Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mani, Mohammed, and the Mahdi” are characterized as the “family of the demonic snakes and are attributed with characteristics of darkness and deceit. (see Shri Kalachakra I.154). 

For more Questions and explanations see the following link

http://www.trimondi.de/EN/deba03.html

 
Critical Issues for Debate in the Civil Public Square
Submitted by James C. Stephens
Executive Director
Sonrise Center for Buddhist Studies, Inc.
http://www.sonrisecenter.org
 

 

Yellow Pages Defines Church

In a message dated 3/2/2008 3:18:12 AM Pacific Standard Time, briandodd@bellsouth.net writes:

In the header Brian wrote this Sunday morning, “Some people want to live within the sound of chapel bells, but I want to run a mission a yard from the gate of hell.”

–C.T. Studd, a missionary to China.

Cool. I mean that’s a hot idea. The members of that Church would really understand the meaning of “Ye be hot or cold, or I’ll spew you out of my mouth.” 

In many ways, the Internet can be that broadway leading to destruction. Maybe we ought to seriously look at it as outside ”the gate of hell.”  I guess it’s all a matter of perspective.

As I looked through the yellow pages this morning placing myself in the shoes  of a seeker looking for a Church to attend, I became confused with all the alternatives. I mean if I look under the heading of cleaners, there they are listed alphabetically A-Z. But the Churches, African, Armenian, Armenian Apostolic, Assembies of God, Ba’hai, Baptist, American Bapist, Conservative Baptist, General Baptists, Independent Baptists, Missionary Baptists, Southern Baptists, Brethren-hey that sounds warm and inviting,  Buddhist churches-Tibetan Buddhist Dharma Monastery next to Arcadia Bible Church, Byzantine Catholics, Roman Catholics, Traditional Catholics, Charismatics, Christian, Disciples of Christ, Church of God Anderson, Indiana?, Churches of God of Prophecy?, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, Eastern Orthodox, Eucumenical?,  Korean, Jehovah’s witnesses? Episcopal, Full Gospel, Nazarene, Old Roman Catholic, Open Bible, Pentecostal, American Orthodox, Scientology, Unitarian universalist. Now I’ve come to Cigars, Cigarettes, Cigarellos?

 But I want to go to a church to learn the Bible, so I reperused the pages and found inside the typical blue colored the rectangular oval denoting a subheading Churches Bible–only one listing, hmm. Okay, let’s see–Self-Realization Fellowship. Okay, let’s go down there and take a look. Nice building (remember, I’m not a Christian in this scenario, only a seeker). People dressed in attractive white pressed open shirts, smiling, no tie, casual. Okay. I walk in and nothing seems particularly out of place..a conversation ensues and I figure it out, somewhat, “oh you follow Yogananda, the guy in white and a beard in the picture, kinda looks like he’s the Beatles guru from India. I see.’

They say, ‘He blends the Bible, Gita, and other teachings.’

I ask, ” So we get to study the Bible?”

They respond,” Oh, yeh, sure.”

Thanks for the guidance yellow pages.

Most seekers will probably close the yellow pages, confused and wait until the next knock on their door from a member of one of those churches. The only question remaining is, “Will it be yours?”

‘There is a way which seems right to a man, but it’s way leads to death.’
“Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

JCS

 

Christmas Multiple Choice

Why do we celebrate Christmas? Seriously, “Why do we send out Christmas cards? Watch ”A Christmas Carole” or “It’s a Wonderful Life?”  Why do we wait until the end of each year to send out a card to those we are somehow related to? Do we want to be liked? Remembered? Make sure that that they remember our business, our ministry, our medical practice, or accountancy?  Do we do it because it’s just part of our annual routine? Or is it because we truly desire to be connected?   Or want to be included in the season’s celebrations?

Bumper stickers have read, “Jesus is the reason for the Season.”  The other morning, I saw a message scrawled on the back window of a mini-van like you see on a newlywed’s car, simply stating, “Happy Birthday Jesus!”  Mission colleagues send out their end of the year letters reporting about what they’ve been up to or include some references to the meaning of Christmas.

I recall being in Bangkok, Thailand at a Buddhist temple with Chris Huber, a college pastor and being invited into talk with the Secretary to the Supreme Patriarch of Theravada Buddhism in Thailand and walking past strings of Christmas lights playing “Jingle Bells” and a couple of other seasonal tunes. I wondered if anyone had a clue what the tunes meant.

Not a clue. They were simply put up because the King of Thailand had been there recently on retreat. It was the same temple that the movie “The King and I” had been based upon. I recall how Anna, who was a Christian, was grieved over the Thai King’s approaching death.  

We did share with the Secretary, a Thai Buddhist Caucasian American, the Good News about Jesus Christ and spoke about the omniscience of Jesus Christ. He confessed that the Buddha was only directionally omniscient and had made a number of mistakes after his enlightenment about the deaths of his closest disciples.

So, why do we celebrate Christmas? Was it a dynamic equivalent instituted by Emperor Constantine to replace the prevailing pagan celebrations in Rome around the time of the winter solstice? Probably. Orthodox celebrate his birth later in January.

We celebrate His birth as an occassion to remember His incarnation on our behalf. This season, many baby Jesus’ were stolen from Christmas displays in Southern California that ended up in front of a statue of Mary.

We are called to remember His death and His resurrection as well in a ceremony we call communion. It is a ceremony reserved for those who are actually followers of Jesus Christ. Christmas in many ways is an opportunity for us to introduce others to the existance of Jesus Christ and why He came into the world. For society, it is known as the “season of giving”, or the ‘holidays”, “Kwanza”, “Hanakah”, etc.  Holidays is derived from holy days.

So, we listen to a cultural rendition of Christmas by the Chieftains or a Christian artist like Amy Grant sing tunes celebrating the LORD’s birth,

Fall on your knedes,

Hear the Angels voices.

Oh, night divine,

Oh, night, when Christ was born,

Oh night divine, when Christ was born.

On a walk this morning, my wife and I are wished a Merry Christmas on a walk in Arcadia by a Chinese neighbor. At the local Whole Foods, I’m wished Merry Christmas by one of the employees, who says he celebrates Christmas. 

No gifts this year by agreement in the family. Finances are in short supply. I wonder, why do we get uptight about the celebration? No Christmas tree. Okay, that’s a Druid symbol appropriated by Christians. Actually, we have no room in our small apartment, lined with boxes as we prepare for a move.

Last night, Elizabeth and I attended a Christmas party that was put on by a family for some homeless women. Five women to be exact. They didn’t show up because they were frightened about being in the crowd. For us it was also difficult, because we realized that again, we are moving–not because we didn’t pay the rent, but because our landlord had a downturn in his business and is moving family members into the apartment. So, it’s almost Christmas, and we again are facing the lack of affordable housing, a downturn in giving, and wondering, “Will there be any room in the inn for our family?”

 

“The Wedding Feast”

     As a disciple of Jesus, I wrote a letter to our community of faith several years ago expressing concern over an event that transpired shortly before Christmas. It was at that time I thought about the idea of writing a column “Cynical Prophet.” As we are in that season again, I felt it was appropriate to post my experience again. It was written as a reminder that we walk in the integrity of our faith and in a way the honors the dignity of our fellow citizens and the message of our Master…  Remembering, “…we are His workmanship, created..for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”  

      It’s called “The Wedding Feast”.

 

     One Sunday morning last month, I decided to visit a local Bible believing church in our city after I heard that a new Buddhist temple had been built right next door to it. The only thing that separates the Church and the Temple is the local Child Evangelism Fellowship Office.

 

     When I got out of my vehicle, I was approached by a young Hispanic man, we’ll call Roberto. In his left hand he held a plastic bag with two boxes of cereal. He asked me, “Do you go to this church?”

 

       I responded, “No. This is my first time. I’m just visiting.”

 

       He politely asked, “May I talk to you for a minute?”

 

  I nodded, “Sure.”

 

  Roberto explained, “My wife, three young children and my father, who has kidney problems live in a motel.  If I don’t come up with $45 by noon, they will lock me out. Usually I do day labor and on Sunday I do enough yard work to pay my rent.”  He seemed quite depressed and earnest.

 

   “Well, this morning I didn’t get any work and so I asked this Church if I could speak to the Pastor and they said, ‘No. Sundays are not a good day, he’s very busy.’  Now, I thought that the Lord’s Day was a good day, but they would not help me.”

 

    Then, I thought for a moment of the twenty-five dollars I had in my pocket, our own family’s immediate need for some groceries, and my rent which was also due. I too was discouraged, but I have known God’s gracious hand of provision now for many years.  I said, “Honestly, I would like to help you, but I have to pay my rent which is past due also and am short on finances, but let’s see what we can do.”

 

    He then asked if I could at least spare some money for milk for his kid’s cereal. “Of course.”  So I gave him $5. Then I said, “Let me take you into the Church and let’s see how they might be able to help.”

 

    As we entered the Church we were greeted and after seating Roberto, I went up to one of the ushers and shared a short version of the man’s family needs and asked if they had any provision to assist him.

 

     The abrupt response was, “No. We don’t help these types of people.”

 

     The first thing out of my mouth was, “Well, with this kind of spirit your church is sure not going to grow. After all these are your neighbors.”

 

     One of the elders I had previously met and who had introduced me to his church as “a former Buddhist monk” who had become a Christian and could help them deal with the temple next door, came up to me.  When I told him of the timely need of Roberto, he questioned the truth of his story. He said, “We’ll have to call an elder’s meeting after church to see if we can do anything.”

 

  Quite frankly, I was taken aback and told him,   “I’m afraid that will be too late for this man and his family as they plan locking his family out in less than an hour.”

 

  The elder simply said,  “Sorry.”

 

   So I informed him, “Well, I guess I’ll have to miss the service.”

 

     So, I took Roberto up to the motel where he was staying and on the way over he told me how he and his wife had just given their lives to Jesus last year, but because of their hardship had not been able to afford to get over to the Church. You see, his mother had passed away the year before and he and his wife were now caring for his Father who was blind because of his kidney failure. I discovered later that his wife was struggling with diabetes.

 

    When I arrived, I met his Asian Indian manager, wife and children who appeared to be Hindus, the wife having a red dot in the middle of her forehead.  I asked him about his tenants’ situation and he confirmed the story. I said, “Would $20 help until he can come up with the remainder this afternoon?”

 

     He said shaking his head in a customary Indian fashion, “That would be fine. He does pray to God and he gets his rent each day, although it’s late sometimes.”

 

      Roberto thanked me and I then left, thinking that was the end of the story. On my way home I felt compelled to return to the Church. The service had just ended and I spoke again to the elder. Although I confirmed the truth of Roberto’s story, he said, “I’m just going to have to say no. But would you like to meet the Pastor and come into the wedding reception and have lunch with us?”

 

     “I’d like to meet the Pastor,” I replied.  However, I didn’t feel comfortable staying on for the wedding feast as I thought of how the church had turned a deaf ear towards this poor man’s request even in spite of my biblical plea on his behalf.  The bride and groom were very charming and had no idea what had transpired. It was obviously not the time for me to share this burden.

 

     As I returned home, I felt even more disheartened about the state of the organized Church. Here was a church which the elder proudly stated was debt free and owned its’ property free and clear. But where was it’s’ heart? I am sure there are nice people in the church, but out of the four I asked, not one would give even a dime.

 

     After lunch at home, I noticed a large bag of bakery goods that our daughter Sheila had brought home from her job at Starbuck’s. I then thought of some of the stored goods our friend Stephen Johnson, had brought over to our home when he stayed with us for a while. Stephen, also known as “Wolf” understood what it was like living on the streets. He was a former Zen Buddhist and Hell’s Angel, and now is a Christian evangelist ministering to the youth on the streets of Hollywood.

 

     So, we put together a little care package for Roberto’s family and a few of Jack Chic’s tracts that “Wolf” had given me.  I was also moved to put together a package for the motel manager and his family.

 

    When I arrived later that afternoon, I spoke to the manager and said I had some groceries for Roberto’s family and also that I wanted to share some items with them. After the customary three refusals they humbly accepted the gift. He then walked me over to Roberto’s motel room.

 

The manager’s wife looked at us carrying the bags of groceries and asked, “The Church?”

 

     I said, “Yes.”

 

     She nodded with approval and said, “This is good, very good.”

 

     As I talked with Roberto he confessed that he had also given his manager the $5 I had originally given him for milk and still needed $5 to complete this day’s rent. “Okay, I said. Let me take care of that and also go get some milk for your kid’s cereal.”

 

     After I picked up the milk, I sensed the Lord’s compulsion to buy them some food they didn’t have to get out of a can and bought taco’s for the family. When I arrived I delivered the food and talked to them for a few minutes. The Father briefly shared that he used to be a “bad gang member,” but then became a Christian. He said he missed reading the Bible since he recently lost his sight.

 

     I was shocked as I looked at the dilapidated state of the motel room and calculated that they paid nearly $1395 a month for one room with a shower and only had a hotplate. (I have since discovered that thousands of immigrants live in motels in similar conditions, if not more crowded).

    Then their thirteen-year-old son in baggy khaki pants and a shaved head slowly came outside and quietly said to me, “Wow. I read that story. It was amazing.” While I was out picking up the milk he had found the Chic tract in the bag of groceries. It was a true story about a notorious gangster named Gomez who had become a Christian.

 

   As I encouraged him, I remembered the plight of families who have had no other recourse, but to live in extended stay motels as a result of the acute housing crisis in Los Angeles, while waiting for their painful circumstances to change. I then asked him if there was anything I could pray for.

 

     He said, “No…. Well…, there is one thing. How can I know Jesus Christ?”

 

     I then shared the Gospel with him and he unreservedly gave his life to the LORD. What a surprise and awesome privilege to see the light of Hope in this young man’s eyes.

 

     While we contemplate the eternal meaning of the Incarnation of our Savior Jesus Christ and His humble birth in a stable, let’s remember that He is most pleased by faithful acts of selfless devotion not just at Christmas, but all the year through. Let’s prayerfully minister to our neighbors, family and brethren and as the LORD enables, encourage them with a kind word and thoughtful deed to lighten their burden along the road. 

 

     Grasp the gravity of the Master’s Words,

“Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”

 

 

Who funded the Dalai Lama Gold? You did.

Q: I was really curious about who paid for the Dalai Lama’s gold medal? See below. Thank you Ron Paul for at least standing up for Constitutional principles.

A: <Last week Congress awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to the Dalai Lama in recognition of his lifelong commitment to peace. The medal cost $30,000, and the House of Representatives approved the funding by a vote of 434-1. The lone dissenting vote was cast by presidential candidate Ron Paul.
    “Mr. Speaker,” said Congressman Paul on the House floor, “with great sadness I must rise to oppose this measure.” After noting the irony in honoring a devout Buddhist monk with a material gift of gold, Paul explained: “We cannot forget that Congress has no authority under the Constitution to spend taxpayer money on medals and awards, no matter how richly deserved.”
    Paul had an alternative solution: he offered to pay $100 out of his own pocket to pay for the medal, if the other House members ponied up $70 each to cover the rest. No one did.
    “You see,” Paul observed, “it’s a lot easier to spend other people’s money.”
    Let’s be clear: Paul has nothing against the Dalai Lama. He was also the lone vote in opposition to similar medals for Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II. But his dissent speaks volumes about his principled political philosophy, which emphasizes, above all, strict adherence to the Constitution.
    Sadly, Ron Paul seems to be the only politician left in Washington who actually understands the proper role of the federal government in America. Our Founding Fathers were very clear: while the Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war and levy taxes, it says nothing about spending taxpayer dollars on feel-good medals.
    Of course, the Congressional Gold Medal isn’t really a big deal, but it’s indicative of a much larger problem: over the years, our politicians have consistently ignored and eroded the Constitution, each one straying further than the last, to the point where 434 out of 435 members of the House don’t hesitate to violate the document they all swore to uphold. And to fully understand the degree to which the public has accepted this nonsense, look no further than the most recent presidential debate, where Paul pointed out that the Constitution requires the president to get congressional approval before going to war, and some members of the audience actually booed!
    Ron Paul’s campaign slogan is “Hope for America,” and if the Dalai Lama vote is any indication, Paul is literally the only hope for those wishing to return to the ideals set forth in the Constitution: those of limited government at home, non-intervention abroad, and individual liberty for all. So if you want more of the same – foreign wars, debt, and domestic spying – then by all means, take your pick from the other presidential candidates. But if you’re looking for someone who would refuse a Congressional Gold Medal to an international beacon of peace on Constitutional grounds, well… there’s literally only one choice.”

 

Dalai Lama Awarded Armenian Gold Medal, wait, I mean

     You might have missed it, but President Bush awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to the XIV Dalai Lama of Tibet, the highest civilian honor in the land the land on October 17, 2007.     Of the three networks, only pro-Buddhist ABC even covered it briefly as an “extraordinary scene of pomp in the nations capitol”–one night only on national and local news. Pretty brief clips for such a “national honor.”  Not a peep out of NBC–probably because they wisely feared insulting Beijing right before the Olympics. CBS-nothing that I caught. It was second page news in the LA Times–that was a shocker since they are so PRO DL.       What did catch my attention was ABC’s mention of a “superbug” that had killed three students and sickened 1000’s in nearby Bedford County, Virginia where over 11,000 students stayed home as their schools were being cleaned to prevent the spread of a merca staph infection that they said could be more deadly than AIDS.    Earlier, I did watch the entire thing on a webcast. It was sickeningly sweet and very anti Beijing.     Unfortunately, it did what they wanted to accomplish in two ways–1) Use the US Congressional Platform with the Capitol as a symbolic backdrop to rally their faithful through a global web cast; and 2) Use the USA National platform, with Pelosi and gang wrapping their arms around President Bush to appear as a “united” front to deliver insult after insult to China publicly and thereby unnecessarily provoking their ire. What it does say is more about our neglect and blundering naiveté in intercultural and international affairs.      Almost immediately the PRC made good on its promise to retaliate for the US Governments’ public endorsement of the Dalai Lama whom they view as a “splittist rebel” and subsequently withdrew their support as a major partner from one of the most important and delicate international diplomatic rounds of negotiation with Iran about its development and threatened use of nuclear weapons. So we shot ourselves in the foot again, only this time the consequences will be much worse.      On the very same day as the ceremony no less, President Bush said in a press conference that if we don’t resolve the nuclear issue in Iran we are looking at WWIII. He said. “So I told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested [in preventing a nuclear Iran]… I take the threat of Iran with a nuclear weapon very seriously.”     With all due respect, Mr. President-that’s thinking ahead. It might have been prudent to think about that before insulting the second largest global power in the equation.     On Friday, I heard Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Pasadena) call a spade a spade, when he called the President to task for not supporting the bill acknowledging the Armenian Genocide perpetuated by Turkey. He said something to the effect that, “When the President said that we shouldn’t bring up ancient history, why didn’t he just say that about the Dalai Lama. Hey, it happened fifty years ago!     Well, I guess it was politically expedient for him since 75% of all our military gear comes into Iraq through Turkey. Then the immediate backfire! Turkey the very next day rattled its saber about attacking the Kurds in northern Iraq. If Saddam couldn’t completely wipe out the Kurdish people, then will Turkey? (Schiff did vote to award the DL the gold and he did have to politically say something as a large part of his constituency is Armenian, a people who pride themselves on being the First Christian Nation).

    So on the one hand–our Government honors the god-king of Tibet, formerly a paid agent of the CIA—whose worldview is diametrically opposed to our nation’s Judaeo-Christian values, and relegate the Armenian genocide of the First Christian nation, a people near and dear to our heart, to ancient history.

I’d say, “Houston, we have a problem” (Apollo 13).

 

Congressional Gold, the Dalai Lama and Tibetan Buddhism

On Wednesday, October 17, 2007 the Dalai Lama will be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the US Government at 1:00PM in the Capitol Rotunda. Many people are asking, “Who’s the Dalai Lama anyway?” or “Why is our government honoring him? I address a number of these questions in a chapter entitled, “The Dalai Lama and Tibetan Buddhism” included in Westmont Professor Ronald Enroth’s excellent book, A Guide to New Religious Movements published by InterVarsity Press.  Now if you can’t run to your Christian bookstore tonight to buy it, or if they don’t have it in stock, and you’re on a reporters deadline, you’re in luck, but you’ve got to promise me one thing–come on now. Promise. If you are blessed by the information, buy the book.  You can access the pdf online through our website at

http://www.sonrisecenter.org/SonriseCenter2005UPDATETransformation.htm

Your donations make our work possible. Thanks again.

James

 

Xenophobic?

I received an email earlier which read,

I received an email from a Christian group I am a part of calling the Dalai Lama’s  upcoming visit to DC  a “great evil”. I felt that this statement was Xenophobic and wrote back asking this group not to send me such messages. I would like to know how you balance your faith in Christ and ministry of outreach to budhists without denigrating them.

J…

Here’s my reply: 

Oxford Dictionary brief definition of xenophobic: “intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries.”

Dear  J….:

Thank you for your email. I am not sure what email you are referring to in the body of your letter, so I will withhold a judgment until I know what particular email you’re referring to. Rather than addressing your concern, be it something I wrote personally, or that someone else did, I would defer to your further elaboration, so that I may intelligently discuss your concerns. 

As for myself, I have no intense dislike of people from other countries, nor do I have an irrational fear of others. What I do have are some well-researched opinions that address issues that I believe require serious questioning. As a former Buddhist leader and scholar of fourteen years, and now as a follower of Jesus Christ since 1984, I am constrained to speak the truth on areas that would be considered “my expertise” even if others may find it a bit hard to digest. In a society that prizes “tolerance” at the cost of truth, I say, sorry didn’t cut the mustard on September 11. If there was one lesson we learned it was that “What you don’t know can kill you.” Secondly, “Someone was asleep at the wheel, but our enemy was not.” Thirdly, “We must be eternally vigilant and trust no one.”  Not trusting anyone, doesn’t mean not loving them. It simply means that “Cursed is he who places his trust in mankind, but blessed is he whose trust is in the LORD.” 

J…, its easy to reject messages that you don’t want to hear, especially if you’re a nice person who wants everyone just to get along. The problem though is that we don’t live in that type of world–it has never existed in history and will not until the new heavens and the new earth-the millenial kingdom–when the lion will lie with the lamb. 

You asked, how I balance “my faith in Christ and ministry of outreach to Buddhists without denigrating them.” First of all, I was a Buddhist and still have a love for my friends that are still involved in practicing what they believe in. At the same time, my life personally was threatened by two Buddhist leaders who wanted to get their 357 magnums and blow me away” for asking questions that didn’t meet their approval. As a mature person, I am sure you are able to discern the difference in people’s intentions. Even the Dalai Lama has said that compassion doesn’t mean no violence is ever necessary to protect oneself. 

I would say that the Dalai Lama’s visit to Washington, DC is problematic and scripturally, I do not see how the LORD JESUS CHRIST could find joy in a sand mandala which according to the Tibetan Buddhists is to house 722 deities, is being built in our National Cathedral. It is a defilement of the sanctuary of God in direct disobedience to the decalogue. The blog that I wrote Asia Briefing Links leads one into a carefully researched expose of what truely underlies the Dalai Lama’s worldview.

I don’t know if you’ve ever had a relationship that began well and ended poorly, I have. Usually, I start out believing the best of people. I am an idealist, but have become over my 56 years, more of a realistic idealist attempting to come to an understanding of what others believe and what their intentions are. Jeremiah 17:9 says that man’s heart is deceitful above all else, and who can know its way? Only the LORD who searches the heart.’  It’s not an easy journey, and sometimes warnings from others are hard to swallow. I’d say, look deeper. What are they really saying? Is there some truth to what they’re saying? So many times we just shut people out because they sound racist. You choose your battles. But other times, we love the people and because we love them, we wrestle through what we percieve as a distasteful perspective on another people. It’s very hard to understand at times. I’ve had to speak with friends who have been anti Chinese, or Anti Muslim and get down and dirty with them and say, Why? You can be of service to others if you don’t shut the door quite so fast. That’s been my hard won experience.

This last weekend I had lunch with a brother in Christ from a Tibetan Buddhist Republic. Ahead of time, he told me about his dismay about the Dalai Lama receiving the Congressional Gold Medal. When I mentioned that Tibetan Buddhist priests were also building a sand mandala in the National Cathedral, he paused and said, “What would the founding fathers of American feel about that?” As a student of American law, he knew that many of the founding fathers were believers and anchored their political philosophy on the Word of God. For him as for me, it is a grievous day when we’ve lost our way as a nation that once actively believed in Jesus Christ and in His Word.

In Christ’s refuge and strength,

James C. Stephens

 

Cynicalprophet’s Weblog

Cynicalprophet’s Weblog